Safety culture
All of TVO’s employees, suppliers, and subcontractors are committed to an uncompromising safety culture. According to the safety culture, all factors that affect the nuclear power plant’s safety receive attention in proportion to their significance and are given priority in decision-making. Continuous improvement and appropriate safety culture are inherent features of all day-to-day work.
In practical work, safety culture means operating in accordance with the principles of nuclear professionalism. Nuclear professionalism means following common policies and guidelines, understanding the importance of safety at work, observing, reporting and bold influencing, and learning from new experiences, with the understanding that results come from good collaboration. The most important aspect of nuclear professionalism is having a responsible attitude.
Principles of nuclear professionalism (i.e. safety culture):
- Follow the approved procedures and instructions without compromise
- Make sure that you and others use safe working practices and work under safe conditions
- Stop and think before you act, and review the consequences of your actions
- Report all problems and deficiencies without delay
- Maintain an atmosphere where reporting can be done freely and without blame
- Question practices and develop operations in the spirit of continuous development
Towards the highest safety culture level
The status of safety culture at TVO is reviewed through extensive self-assessments which have been carried out since 2004. TVO’s safety culture is on level two on IAEA's three-level scale, i.e., the maintenance of safety is based on proactivity and initiative. TVO has a safety culture programme in place aiming at achieving the highest development level of the safety culture defined by IAEA, that of a learning organisation.